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All your support through this website is critical to our work - and we the Rangers of Virunga are extremely grateful. I will soon be posting some receipts (if you want to see previous receipts go to the Your Donations category on the sidebar) to show you where expenses have been made in recent weeks with your donations. Remember that all of your donation goes to the field; the admin costs for running this site are already covered by the European Union.

Today I am launching an urgent appeal for Ranger Rations and Medical Supplies.

We are redeploying patrols all over Virunga National Park in the northern, central and southern sectors - this is imperative following the insecurity of 2008. We need to strengthen our presence throughout the park and prevent poaching, deforestation and other illegal activities. To do this we need to be present in the forests and savannahs of Virunga.

Rangers patrol on average for 24 days per month - and we provide them with food rations, medical supplies and fuel, among other things. Rations average at $2 per Ranger per day and include beans, rice, manioc flour (to make “fou fou”), sugar, salt, coffee, tomato and salted fish.

Rangers prepare their food at a camp on patrol

Medical supplies are distributed to the Rangers on patrol, and we also have medical centres at the main stations in the park: Mutsora (north), Kabaraza (centre), Rwindi (centre), Lulimbi (southern shores of Lake Edward) and Rumangabo HQ (south). Rangers often suffer from malaria as it is a recurrent disease that never goes away once you have it in your system. For Rangers and those living here in eastern Congo malaria is as common as flu is for those in Europe or the US.

The hippos at Lulimbi need protecting and monitoring

So today we need the following:

RATIONS FOR THE NEXT 8 WEEKS

$5,760 - for 60 Rangers to patrol Lulimbi on the southern shores of Lake Edward for 48 days. That is $2/day per Ranger.

Innocent posted in February about the hippos at Lulimbi and it is imperative that we protect this population, in addition to the other animals that wander over from Queen Elizabeth park in Uganda. The population is hanging in there - but is still severely threatened from poachers. Remember some 20 years ago there were about 28,000 hippos in Lake Edward making it the most important hippo population in the world. Today the number is less than 600. Go here and the maps speak for themselves.

Rangers locate their position using GPS

MEDICAL SUPPLIES FOR THE NEXT 8 WEEKS

$760 - for the medical clinic at Lulimbi and the Rangers up there

This brings the total to $6,520.00 that we must raise over the NEXT 4 WEEKS.

All donations made as open donations and donations made as specific ration and medical items on the website will go towards the campaign.

Thank you for your donations in February and your continued support. Please leave me any comments here if you have any questions. I will answer them as soon as possible.

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